Abstract:
Road traffic accidents have become common place in Zambia and they are responsible for the death of hundreds of people in our country annually. Recent times have witnessed a number of measures being implemented by the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) in order to make our roads safe but ultimately to reduce road carnage and save lives. However, with all these things in place, instead of going down, the number of Road Traffic Accidents in our country continues to rise.
The study was carried out to “Analyse Road Safety Awareness and Road User Behaviour among Public Service Vehicle Drivers”. The study was conducted in Kabwe the provincial capital of Zambia’s Central province. This study was important because it sought to establish the reasons why RTA rates continue to rise despite measures put in place to bring them down. Results obtained showed a heightened level of formal driver education among the PSV drivers, low Road Safety knowledge levels, bad road user behaviour and how young PSV drivers tend to be more reckless in driving and less compliant to road safety rules.
Such behaviour is responsible for the ever increasing RTA rates that we continue to record as a country. Road traffic accidents hamper economic growth as they gobble huge financial resources which government can channel to more urgent developmental programmes. There is need for government and other stakeholders to look into massive investment in the education of drivers and other categories of road users on the importance of Road Safety as well as upgrading our existing road infrastructure to a standard the ensures the safety of vehicles and passengers. Future studies should look into whether measures implemented by RTSA to ensure Road Safety have led to a decline in road traffic accidents.
